Welcome to "Bob Cox's Yesteryear" website, containing my local history columns and features that have appeared on Monday's History/Heritage page of the Johnson City (Tennessee) Press.
Subjects deal with the glorious beginnings of this beautiful Appalachian mountainous region. My focus lies mainly within Northeast Tennessee, Southwest Virginia and Western North Carolina, with particular emphasis on Johnson City. All of my history articles have now been uploaded for viewing, although some of them are lacking a photo. I hope to have all of them affixed to my website soon. Click on any photo along the right side and you will be directed to the corresponding article. Feel free to add comments to my articles. So now ... sit back, relax and return with us to those glorious carefree days of yesteryear. I can be reached at
Another great history website to explore is Henry's
Today’s column is an extension of my April 30 WJSO feature story that Don Dale supplied. He also interviewed Ray Stockard and forwarded to me added facts about the once popular station.
In November 2009, Alan Bridwell and I interviewed Ruth Cacy Fink at her Johnson City home. I then wrote a feature story about her long life in East Tennessee. She rewarded me with a copy of her well-written 21-page journal that documented her past remembrances. In addition, Julia Fisher-Rhees, her granddaughter, made a DVD of our dialogue and produced copies for family members.
Don Dale has a stack of memories from his working days at WJSO-AM where he once worked as program director:
Wednesday, Jan. 10, 1934 was tagged “Professor Walter Clement Wilson Day” by the city’s Kiwanis Club at a meeting at the John Sevier Hotel. he honored person was a 71-year-old State Teachers College instructor and senior member of the club.
For David “Davy” Crockett (1786-1836), “it was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” The folk hero, frontiersman, soldier, storyteller, politician and defender of the Alamo was born near Limestone, Tennessee at the convergence of Limestone Creek and the Nolichucky River in the short-lived State of Franklin. Two counties, Washington and Greene, claim his birthplace.
In June 1927, the Shredded Wheat Company of Niagara Falls, New York, conducted a nationwide essay contest that resulted in 20 grammar school students and their teacher being invited on an expense-paid railroad trip to visit their plant and take in all of the dazzling sights of the falls.
The United States entered the First World War on April 6, 1917 after repeated unrestricted submarine attacks on their vessels. Our country’s declaration of war changed the purchasing habits of Americans.
In 1911, J.C. (James) Singleton wrote a letter to an unidentified person that relates his positive experiences of living at Soldiers’ Home in Johnson City. Unlike previous letters from the Home that tended to be brief, this one was very descriptive and detailed:
In September 1928, the Johnson City Chronicle announced that there were plans to proceed with the second of three expansions of the John Sevier Hotel.
Since I wrote a column in August 2006 about Atlanta’s Montag Brothers Paper Company’s clever Blue Horse awards marketing promotion, I have received a steady flow of flow of comments. My column noted that literally millions of Blue Horse heads were exchanged for cash and prizes, making Montag one of the largest paper companies in the industry by 1950.
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